Scientists have speculated for years on how hydras ingested food, but have now discovered the process: they rip apart their own bodies. The findings of the tiny creatures roughly half an inch long were reported in Tech Times. Hydras bait food by attaching one of their tube-like tentacles to a rock or other protrusion in the water, where they loiter for prey to come within a striking radius. When shrimp or other tiny aquatic animals brush up against their arms, tiny barbs eject stinging the prey.
After digestion, their mouths open once more to push out waste before the organ is sealed with the rest of its body tissue. This particular process has been known for some time, but researchers were formerly unaware of how the mouth yawned at the beginning. But new studies reveal that the freshwater species must tear apart their own bodies in order to open their mouths. Observations detailed its process of tearing and re-sealing itself, which takes about 60 seconds to complete.
The study group of hydras was genetically altered so that their dual layers of skin glowed for easy analysis. They observed that the hydras opened their mouths the same way as a pupil of a human eye opens when exposed to darkness. When biologists injected muscle relaxants into the hydras, they were unable to expand their mouths.
“The fact that the cells are able to stretch to accommodate the mouth opening, which is sometimes wider than the body, was really astounding. When you watch the shapes of the cells, it looks like even the cell nuclei are deformed,” Eva-Maria Collins from the University of California, San Diego released in a statement.
Hydras have an uncanny ability to self-repair after tearing themselves apart. Scientists can now use the knowledge to learn more about the process of tissue formation. The complete scientific process was profiled in the Biophysical Journal.
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